title: Birthweight centile charts from rural community-based data from southern India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objectives of the study were to estimate gestational age specific birthweight centiles from healthy pregnancies in a defined rural block and compare the under-two month mortality rates in those belonging to the lowest and highest centile groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective chart review.
  
  
  METHODS
  Routine data collected regarding all pregnancies, births and deaths occurring in Kaniyambadi, a rural block in Southern India, between 2003 to 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  All singleton live newborns of women without known major antenatal risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Gestational age- and sex-specific birthweight centile curves were created using the LMS method. Mortality rates for the first two months of life were calculated for those in various centile groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median birthweight at term was lower for the study subjects as compared to the median birth weights in the WHO child growth standards 2006, the US and the UK standards. Mortality rates for those with birthweights both below the 3rd centile as well as above the 97th centile higher than for those between 3rd and 97th centiles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While absolute values of birthweights were lower than the WHO 2006 child growth standards there was a J shaped curve of birthweight and mortality. This suggests that in a given population, mortality increases at extremes of birthweights, even if some of these birthweights may be considered normal by other standards.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. Correspondence to: Dr Anu Mary Alexander, Department of Community Medicine, Christian Medical College, Vellore, 632 002, Tamil Nadu, India. anualexander@rediffmail.com.
authors.forename: Anu Mary
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Kuryan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: Jayaprakash
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muliyil
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bose
authors.forename: Jasmin Helan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Prasad
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population